This invention relates to an apparatus for washing bins and particularly to a bin washer that washes domestic bins of the wheelie bin type.
There has always been a problem with effectively washing rubbish bins in general. This is due to their size and elongate shape which hampers free and full access to the interior of the bin during cleaning. Another problem is draining of the cleaning fluid. Often this will involve turning the bin onto its side or inverting the bin. This increases the time required to effectively clean a bin and consequently where it is necessary to clean a large number of bins, the process becomes increasingly more difficult.
One method of cleaning bins involves using a truck mounted system which picks up the bin and holds it in an inverted or inclined position. An operator then uses a hand held spray gun to spray cleaning fluid under pressure into the bin. The cleaning fluid self drains from the bin onto a screen so as to remove any unwanted solids. The cleaning liquid is stored in a holding container and is then recycled via a pump back to the spray gun. This method is a vast improvement over the manual methods of cleaning. However it is considered that this method is still not overly quick and may have difficulty in removing grime caked on the bin.
It is therefore an object of this invention to provide an alternate apparatus for cleaning bins with increased efficiency.
According to the present invention there is provided a mobile cleaning system for a bin including:
a self propelled vehicle;
a bin manipulation arm for gripping, lifting and inverting a bin;
an apparatus for cleaning a bin supported on said vehicle, the apparatus comprising a single elongate rotatable stem locatable at a fixed spatial position within a bin when the bin is held in an inverted state by said bin manipulation arm, said stem adapted to transfer cleaning liquid to the inside of the bin and arranged to support a brush means contacting the inside of the bottom and side walls of said bin in a manner so that in one complete revolution of the stern substantially the whole of the inside of the bottom and side are contacted by the brush means;
stationary spray means for spraying cleaning fluid onto an inside surface of a lid of said bin when the bin is in the inverted state;
a catchment tank supported an said vehicle in which said stem and stationary spray means arc located for collecting said cleaning liquid; and,
whereby, in use, the bin manipulation arm grips. lifts and inverts the bin and holds said bin over said stem and the catchmont tank and said stem is rotated and cleaning fluid supplied to said stem so that refuse is removed from the inside of the bin by a combination of the cleaning fluid and rotating brush means, and wherein said cleaning fluid and debris washed from said bin fall into said catchment tank.
Preferably said vehicle includes a hydraulic motor at a lower end of said stem for applying torque to rotate the stem, wherein said hydraulic motor is driven by said cleaning fluid.
Preferably said cleaning fluid is water delivered to said stem at a pressure in the range of 70-200 kpa and a temperature between 80-110xc2x0 C.
According to another aspect of the present invention there is provided a mobile cleaning system for a bin including:
a vehicle;
an apparatus for cleaning a bin in accordance with the first aspect of the present invention;
bin manipulation arm for gripping, lifting and inverting a bin; and,
catchment tank through which the stem of the apparatus extends,
whereby, in use, the bin manipulating arm grips, lifts and inverts the bin and holds the bin over both the stem and the catchment tank so that cleaning fluid and debris washed from the bin fall into the catchment tank.
Preferably the catchment tank includes filter means for filtering the cleaning fluid transferred by the stem and debris from the bin, and means downstream of the filter means to allow filtrate to be recycled as cleaning fluid for washing a subsequent bin.
The objects set forth above as well as further and other objects and advantages of the present invention are achieved by the embodiments of the invention described hereinbelow.
For a better understanding of the present invention, together with other and further objects thereof, reference is made to the accompanying drawings and detailed description and its scope will be pointed out in the appended claims.